I hear this word just about every day. The context? George and Lewis saying, "Mom, I don't have any clean pants to wear! " When I hear it, I just have to say, "I'm sorry that I haven't done laundry for several months, boys!" I don't hear the word very often from my older children, because then my response would be, "Well, you'd better wash some clothes, then!"
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| It's very likely that it was a summer day much like this one the last time I got some serious laundry done. |
Nextly, I hear the word when my brothers are trying to be funny. They say, "my pants!" instead of "my bad" when they mess up. I'm not sure why, but it's stuck in family usage.
This week, however, I've heard the word pants most often in the context of "wear pants to church Sunday." I admit to not knowing an exhaustive amount about this event. I will also admit that my ignorance is deliberate. I have chosen to not chase after more details. We all have to choose which things will catch and keep our energy and attention, and this was something I decided was not worth much of my energy or attention. Why?
1. It's Christmas time! Why would anyone deliberately pull focus away from the Savior and onto them selves (see point 5, below) at this sacred time of year? In the face of the massacre in Newtown, such grandstanding seems even more egregious. All that good people everywhere want to do is love their family and friends and strangers in Christmasy ways, and feel the joy of our shared humanity.
2. You know the phrase "first-world problem?" It's used in situations where people want it to be known that the thing they're complaining about is recognizably petty when compared to real need and anguish in the world. The idea that women are 'suffering' because they feel a moderate amount of covert pressure to wear skirts to church? It's petty, to say the least.
3. People who are oppressed by Mormon group-think are not going to be liberated by engaging in a Mormon feminist group-think activity. Freedom from group-think oppression is always always an individual activity. Sorry, folks.
3a. This group-think activity is designed to divide. Not only will people who have chosen to participate in the event be looking around to see who else is participating, but they will also be looking around to see and take note of who ISN'T participating. There's US and then there's THEM. That's called division. Encouraging such division is irreconcilable with Christian worship.
4. I don't personally know Joanna Brooks (perhaps the most notable backer of this pantsing activity), but I know that she seems to be intelligent and well-spoken. I have seen her in a youtubed television interview and know that she is attractive and dresses stylishly and has an amazing amount of self-confidence. She seems absolutely unflustered in conversing with powerful media representatives. I have also noticed that she has made a career of popping up as a spokesman every time Mormonism garners some attention. At this period of time, called by some the "Mormon moment," she is everywhere. I guess I think of her as the Jesse Jackson of Mormonism. I don't know Jesse Jackson either, but I DO know that every time I hear people speak about him, it is always with the realization that where there are cameras and a chance to speak to them, he will be there, representing "his" people. The person who stands to benefit more than anyone else from this "wear pants to church" Sunday? Joanna Brooks. It is forwarding her career, feeding her oversized need for public attention. Please see this clearly.
I've got to go now. I don't have any more time to blog! I've got Christmasy things to do and my boys don't have clean pants to wear. If I've offended you, my pants!
